Methi Rajma Pasta Quiche

Methi rajma pasta quiche is the bombardment of flavors. It’s a fusion bake of ingredients. Here also I have used SPRIG Genoa multipurpose spice blend like my previous two posts. Quiche is a savory pastry pie made usually with egg, milk and as I am an eggless baker, this trial is also without egg. Quiche has its origin from France (Wiki) and later it spread across many countries with variations. There are infinite variations in savory pie filling. Well my next hero of this dish is pasta, this has its origin from Italy and it’s found in many shapes, size, and flavors. In this recipe I have concoction of quiche, with pasta filling flavored with Italian spice, and finally with Indian touch of adding methi, rajma.

So its methi rajma pasta quiche and I forgot to mention quiche with lots of cheese which I usually don’t prefer but my family loves it. Well love for cheese is obvious looking at my last two posts filled with cheese.

Referred many food blogs for quiche recipe and finally landed up with my own proportions of ingredients.

Here is the recipe

Course: Bake, Fusion

Cuisine: France, Italy

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 2 ½ hr

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

For crust

All purpose flour -1 ¼ cup

Cold butter (shredded) – ¾ cup

Cold water for dough

Sprig Genoa multipurpose spice blend- ½ tbsp

Salt as per taste

Raw rice for blank bake

For filling

Whole wheat spiral pasta (cooked with salt) -1 cup

Methi leaves or fenugreek  (chopped) – ¾ cup

Rajma  or red kidney beans (cooked with salt) – ½ cup

Onion (chopped) – ¼ cup

Tomato (chopped) – ¼ cup

Garlic (crushed) -1 tbsp

Red chili powder -2 tsp

Sprig Genoa multipurpose spice -1 tbsp

Roasted peanut powder -2 tbsp

Olive oil- 2 tbsp

Corn flour-2 tsp

Milk -2 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Pasta cooked water- ¼ cup

Cheddar cheese (shredded) – 1 cup

Method:

1. Take a bowl, add all purpose flour, salt, shredded cold butter, sprig multipurpose spice.
2. Rub the mixture gently with fingers so that they form breadcrumbs like structure.
3. Add little cold water and bring the mixture together to form stiff dough.
4. Cling wrap the dough and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
5. Prepare the pie mould by greasing with oil or line with aluminum foil if the mould base is not detachable.
6. After 10 minutes, roll out the dough into 1/5 inch thick sheet.
7. Place this on pie mould, press the sides with thumb and randomly pierce with fork. Refrigerate this pie mould for 20 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven at 200℃ for 10 minutes.
9. After 20 minutes of refrigeration, take the crust, place a parchment paper on surface and spread raw rice on this. Blank bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, then remove rice and grill for 2 minutes to get golden crust.
10. Cool this crust with mould for 30 to 45 minutes.

Filling:

1. Prepare a paste of corn flour and milk. Keep this aside for further use.
2. Take a pan, heat olive oil. Add onion and fry well.
3. Now add garlic and saute well.
4. To this add tomato and fry well until its soft.
5. Add chopped methi and fry well.
6. Now add cooked rajma and mix.
7. Add the corn flour and milk slurry, cooked pasta water and mix well until it thickens.
8. Now add Sprig Genoa multipurpose spice blend, mix well.
9. Add red chili powder and mix.
10. Add cooked pasta, little salt and mix.
11. Add the roasted peanut powder and mix.
12. Cook the entire pasta mixture for one minute and cool this for further use.
13. Preheat the oven at 180℃ for 10 minutes. Take the cooled crust with the mould, fill the pasta mixture tightly.
14. Next layer the top with shredded cheese. Sprinkle olive oil on top of cheese.
15. Bake in preheated oven at 180℃ for 40 minutes with last two minutes increase the temperature to 200℃ and grill the quiche to get light golden layer.
16. Remove from oven, slice and serve hot or warm.

My Notes:

Butter should be cold so that it gives a nice crust.

Butter and flour should be gently rubbed to prevent butter from melting.

Always add ice cold water little at a time as this has to be stiff dough.

The amount of cheese is variable.

The amount of pasta cooked water depends on how thick you want the consistency of final pasta to be stuffed. If it’s more watery the pastry crust becomes soggy which I personally don’t prefer.

Grilling for last two minutes of baking is optional. This step can be skipped.